Source here
Jihad means war against non-Muslims:
Jihad means war against non-Muslims:
“Jihad means to war against non-Muslims and is etymologically derived
from the word mujahada, signifying warfare
to establish the religion. And it
is the lesser jihad. As for the
greater jihad, it is spiritual warfare against the lower self (nafs), which is
why the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said as he was returning
from jihad,
“‘We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad.’
“The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus (def: b7)
is such Koranic verses as:
“(1) ‘Fighting is prescribed for you’ (Koran 2:216)
“(2) ‘Slay them wherever you find them’ (Koran 4:89)
“(3) ‘Fight the idolators utterly’ (Koran 9:36)
“and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the
Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said,
“‘I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is
no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah…’
“and the hadith reported by Muslim,
“‘To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is
better than the whole world and everything in it.’
“Details concerning jihad are found in the accounts of the military
expeditions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), including his
own martial forays and those on which he dispatched others. The former consist of the ones he
personally attended, some twenty-seven (others say twenty-nine) of them. He
fought in eight of them, and killed only one person with his noble hand, Ubayy
ibn Khalaf, at the battle of Uhud.
On the latter expeditions he sent others to fight, himself remaining at
Medina, and these were forty-seven in number.” (o9.0)
PF Comment: the battles
in which Muhammad took part (some 27) are recorded in the official Muslim biography of
his life, “The
Life of Muhammad”, by Ibn Ishaq, known as the Sirah of Muhammad. It clearly shows his military
bent. Cf: Jesus.
Jihad is obligatory
on all Muslims:
“Jihad is a communal obligation. (o.9.1)
“Jihad is also obligatory for everyone able to perform it, male or
female, old or young when the enemy has surrounded the Muslims…” (o9.3)
“Those called upon to perform jihad when it is a communal obligation are
every able-bodied man who has reached puberty and is sane.” (o9.4)
The objective of
jihad is to fight Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians….:
“The caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians… until they
become Muslim or else pay the non-Muslim poll tax (jizya, def: o11.4)… in accordance with the word of Allah Most High,
“‘Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who
forbid not what Allah and His messenger have forbidden – who do not practice
the religion of truth, being of those who have been given the Book – until they
pay the poll tax our of hand and are humbled (Koran 9.29)’.” (o9.8)
PF Comment: there has
been no caliph since the downfall of the Ottoman Empire in 1924. The reestablishment of the global
caliphate is an urgent task of modern Islamism. [LATER: ISIS caliphate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, 2014-2019. Added 19 Sep 2019]
….the objective of
jihad is ALSO to fight “all
others”…
“The caliph fights all other peoples until they become Muslim.” (o9.9)
PF Comment: there are some loopholes: “people of the Book” -- Christians and Jews --are given the choice of converting to Islam,
paying the jizya poll tax or being killed;
whereas those “not of the book” are simply killed if they don’t convert.
According to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, all people – people of the Book and those not of the Book -- should be given the choice of convert, pay jizya tax or die.
According to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam, all people – people of the Book and those not of the Book -- should be given the choice of convert, pay jizya tax or die.
Truces should only
be negotiated when Islam is not “uppermost”:
“Truces are permissible, not obligatory. The only one who may effect a truce is the Muslim ruler of a
region…
“There must be some interest served in making a truce other than mere
preservation of the status quo. Allah Most High says,
‘So do not be fainthearted and call for peace, when it is you who are
the uppermost’” (o9.16)
PF Comment: this is
clearly what drives the various cease-fires in the Israeli-Palestinian battle:
Hamas and others only call for it when they are weak and need to rearm.
Lying for jihad is
permissible:
“….lying is sometimes permissible for a given interest, scholars having
established criteria defining what types of it are lawful” (o8.1)
PF Comment: to be sure
lying is part of war. In the case
of Islam, it has become entrenched in the concept of taqiyya.
Muslims fighting
jihad are entitled to spoils of battle:
“A free male Muslim who has reached puberty and is sane is entitled to
the spoils of battle when he has participated in a battle to the end of it.”
(o10.0)
Sufis also took
part in jihad by the sword:
“Among the Sufis who aided Islam with the sword as well as the pen… are
such men as….” (w9.4)
PF Comment: Sufis are
often held out as the purely mystical side of Islam. This article, w9.4, sets out how they spread Islam by the
sword from the “Libyan Desert to Sub-Saharan Africa” and to “southern Soviet
Union” (this section being a Note and Appendix to the Umdat al-Salik).
IN SUM: Jihad means "to war against non-Muslims” (o9.0), not simply to undergo a “spiritual struggle” as apologists claim.
IN SUM: Jihad means "to war against non-Muslims” (o9.0), not simply to undergo a “spiritual struggle” as apologists claim.
